By Andria Cheng

President Obama, in rewarding Gap Inc.
/quotes/zigman/227242/delayed/quotes/nls/gpsGPS for its decision to raise minimum wage for its store workers, paid an unexpected visit to one of its namesake stores in New York on Tuesday, reportedly spending about $150 for the First Lady and their daughters.

However, the shopping trip to drum up support for his minimum wage hike call to $10.10 from $7.25 may not do much to change most retailers’ thinking on the issue. Despite Gap’s move to raise minimum wage for its 65,000 workers, most retailers have chosen to stay on the sidelines to watch how the national debate plays out.

According to the latest Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey of 379 finance chiefs in the U.S., which concluded March 6, increasing the minimum wage nationwide to $10 per hour would lead to job losses among retail, service, and manufacturing firms. Within the retail sector, the survey, released on Wednesday, found 56.7% of 49 retail CFOs surveyed said their hiring plans will be reduced if the minimum wage is hiked. However, within the pool who said their hiring would be affected, the percentage went up to 82% if the minimum wage is hiked to $10.

“While $10 (or $10.10) would be a nice improvement for those still employed, the negative effects on jobs would be large,” John Graham, a finance professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and director of the survey, told MarketWatch. “A more modest hike to $8.50 seems palatable to the industry.”

Some states like California and Oregon are already above $8.50 – but no state is yet at $10, Graham said.

The U.S., as of 2012, had 3.55 million workers, or about 4.7% of the 75.28 million hourly workers, making the minimum wage or less, according to Labor Department data. The retail sector had 561,000 workers making at or below minimum wage, one of the industries with the biggest pool of minimum-wage workers, the Labor Department study showed.

The survey also found that a majority of U.S. CFOs worry about the impact of economic uncertainty on the companies’ future plans. More than two-thirds of them said uncertainty due to government economic policies is causing them to hold back on hiring or capital spending or to increase their cash reserves.

In response to a less aggressive Federal Reserve monetary policy, finance chiefs in the U.S. said the borrowing costs faced by their firms will increase by about 1 percentage point by the end of this year. Among companies that need to borrow to fund their investment, most said that a modest increase in interest rates wouldn’t stop them from borrowing. The survey respondents said their plans would be significantly crimped only if rates are to rise by 3 percentage points.

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About Behind the Storefront

Behind the Storefront is a blog about all things retail. It’s aimed at investors, shoppers and anyone else with a passion for learning about what drives consumer behavior. Hosted by Andria Cheng, Behind the Storefront will cover the business, brands and shopping behavior that’s behind some of the biggest companies, and largest employers, in the world. You can reach Andria at Acheng@marketwatch.com.